A still from ‘What If…?’ Season 3
My favourite episode in the third season of What If…? is ‘What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood?’ or is it the one in the Wild West, ‘1872’ or the finale of this superlative series, ‘What if…What if?’ It is so sad that this third season is the final one, especially when there are so many more alternate timelines to explore.
What If…? based on the eponymous Marvel comics, explores what happens when one of the cogs of the immense wheel of time does or chooses one thing instead of the other. There is the Watcher (brilliant Jeffrey Wright), a being from the fifth dimension, who is the guide and narrator. What happens when instead of being a detached observer, the Watcher begins nudge things this way or that? That is when his bosses, including the Eminence, (Jason Isaacs) come down upon him like a ton of bricks.
There is the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) coming out of retirement to fight giant, gamma monsters once Captain America (Anthony Mackie) convinces him he has not “gone Colonel Kurtz”. In 1991, instead of killing Howard and Maria Stark, the Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) injure them and are able to get only one vial of the super-soldier serum. As the duo race across America with Goliath (Laurence Fishburne) on their tail, they learn things about the country and each other.
When Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) decides to cast a powerful spell as part of making a movie, she needs help from the Eternal, Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani). She gets the director, Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) to cast Kingo opposite her in the magnum opus they are shooting. They take Stark’s harried assistant director and butler, Jarvis’ (James D’Arcy) suggestion of a big dance number seriously and that is when said Bollywood-Hollywood dance-off takes place to the tune of ‘Jeet hai hamari’.
‘What If…?’ Season 3 (English)
Creator: A. C. Bradley
Voice cast: Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Mackie, Mark Ruffalo, Sebastian Stan, Simu Liu, Oscar Isaac, Kathryn Hahn, Kumail Nanjiani
Episodes: 11
Run-time: 25 – 32 minutes
Storyline: Reimagining key events in the MCU including Hulk fighting mech Avengers, a dance off between Agatha and Kingo and Shang Chi in the Wild West
The rather bizarre ‘What If… Howard the Duck Got Hitched’ finds Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Howard (Seth Green) having an egg-shaped baby. Since the baby was born at time of the convergence, universes are after the egg, including the Grandmaster (Matt Friend), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) from S.H.I.E.L.D., Zeus, and Thanos (Josh Brolin). Frost giant Loki, (Tom Hiddleston) meanwhile, is pitching Jotunheim as winter resort.
Quentin Beck (Alejandro Saab) faces off Riri (Dominique Thorne) in ‘What If… the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?’ and in What If… 1872?, Xu Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), looks for his sister, while a sinister gangster, The Hood terrorises the Wild West. He is accompanied by Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), who wants to take revenge on The Hood.
In the finale Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith) and Byrdie (Natasha Lyonne) range themselves with the Watcher to defend the multiverse from the Eminence.
The animation is of the highest order, with eye-popping action set pieces. The voice acting is of the highest order. The writing with the “house will make you question the decency of capitalism,” and other smart cutting lines of thought, are manna for the mind. Also, the concept is so alluring. This bright, slick, song to the many coulda, woulda, shoulda in our lives, is an irresistible thought experiment.
What If…? currently streams on Disney+Hotstar
Published – December 31, 2024 05:54 pm IST
